When it reopens in June 2006 in the Hotel Palomar, it will be like a 1960s time warp. Hotel Palomar, a $90 million luxury hotel, condo and retail project at Mockingbird Lane and North Central Expressway, is being renovated and extended on the site of the old Hilton.

"It will be preserving the past of Dallas. It will look exactly like it did when it opened," said Jim Sibert, Trader Vic's new Dallas franchise owner.

Trader Vic's will be his first restaurant. The entrepreneur owns Double Wide, a trailer-park-themed bar and music venue, and previously had the now-defunct Expo Lounge, both near Deep Ellum.

Sibert is raising $2.5 million from private investors to resurrect Trader Vic's. About $1 million will be spent on restoring the 8,000-square-foot restaurant and lounge, while about $1 million will go toward redoing the kitchen.

Hans Richter, president and CEO of Emeryville, Calif.-based Trader Vic's Cos, says the 76-year-old global chain of restaurants is experiencing a "renaissance," adding that the company has recently signed restaurant agreements with franchisees in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Las Vegas.

"There is a lot of new interest," Richter said. "I think it's because parents introduced their sons and daughters. There is a bit of nostalgia and revival."

Tropical twist

At Trader Vic's in Dallas, the 1960s-style tiki and tropical interior will be restored and other elements will be upgraded.

Even today, 17 years after its closing, the lounge and dining room are adorned with Japanese fishing balls and tiki carvings etched by South Pacific artisans. An outrigger canoe hangs with other artifacts in the dining room.

Preserving the authentic "retro" atmosphere at Dallas' Trader Vic's will be no small feat.

Sibert is enlisting his wife, who works on television commercials, and other design experts to photograph the restaurant before it's dismantled and restored."It will be meticulously put back the way it was," Sibert said.

Sibert expects Trader Vic's will attract Dallasites familiar with the name, neighborhood families and the hip evening crowd.

"So many people have fond memories of dining there -- it will be a built-in crowd," Sibert said.

Among those with Trader Vic's nostalgia are Hotel Palomar's developers, Kip Sowden, Jeff Berry and Phil Brosseau of Dallas-based Realty America Group.

When Sibert approached them with the idea of resurrecting Trader Vic's the decision was easy, Berry said. The Hotel Palomar is a joint venture between Dallas-based Realty America Group, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants and Addison-based Behringer Harvard, a real estate investment trust.

"It's going to be one more unique selling point of the development," Berry said. "But it will complement whatever restaurant Kimpton puts in the Hotel Palomar."

Kimpton, which is known for creating upscale eateries, will be developing the hotel's signature restaurant, which is said to be an American bistro concept.

Matthew Mabel, president of Surrender Inc., is skeptical that Trader Vic's will be able to sustain a successful volume of diners in a market he calls "the hotbed for proving every restaurant in America."

"Trader Vic's is a dated concept that works well in hotel concepts around the world," Mabel said. "While it will probably have an initial retro/kitsch appeal, it is going to be a stretch in the Dallas dining market.

"There are so many aggressive concepts coming, and '60s nostalgia does not run rampant among the dining-out crowd."

Source: Dallas Business Journals